SeaTrek Referral Dives - Need Open Water Divesf for PADI

[JohnBarleyCorn]

I hope someone can help me with some Royal Caribbean dive information. I am interested in completing my PADI certification open water dives when I cruise March 26th on the Oasis of the Seas sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale. I have called RC, but so far I have not found anyone who can give me any information about their "Referral" dives with SeaTrek. Do I have to sign up once I board or should I do it prior to arrival? On their web page http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experience/html.do?exCode=611 it lists the Oasis of the Seas but no one seems to know too much about the "Referral". Two weeks ago, I completed my PADI coursework and now would like to finish my certification process with two open water dives in the Caribbean. If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate a reply. Thank you!:cool:

[Loves_Dogs]

I did certification dives on my Carnival Destiny cruise. I did all my class / pool work and written test at my local dive shop. The LDS gave me the Universal Referral form to take with me to be filled out by the shops where I did my certification dives. However, I simply contacted individual dive shops and set up the dives myself. The cruise line was not involved (I realize that Carnival does not have a dive shop like RCI does).

 

You could always contact some shops at the ports you want to dive and set the dives up yourself (especially since you cannot get any answers on the phone). Either that or wait till you are on the ship and go to the dive shop in person. However, the dive shop has very limited hours. The battery on my sons dive computer died while on our AOS cruise and thats when we realized just how limited the dive shop hours were. Good luck with your certification dives and a word of warning - diving is as addicting as cruising.

Safe diving and have a GREAT CRUISE!

[JohnBarleyCorn]

I am replying to my own post :p

 

I talked to RC yesterday and said it was probably too close to my sail date to get a reply, so they get high marks for replying in one day! Here's what they said about the Referral section of the Sea Trek on the Oasis of the Seas:

 

Dear Guest,

 

Please see below.

 

It is possible to do the referral onboard. All they need to do is bring all there paperwork from there training they have completed (ie. log book, file etc). They can not sign up online unfortunately but can do so as they get onboard at the dive shop. Other things to consider are how much of the training they have completed. Due to the limited amount of port we are allowed to teach in we can only do 2 dives a cruise.

 

Should you have any additional questions please feel free to contact us.

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If this sounds accurate, then I should be all set to take my two open water dives and complete my certification.:cool:

[pjsatc86]

We had an issue with our referral on the March 13th sailing of Allure of the Seas. We were promised for months by RCL that we would be able to do the Open Water referral. This involves 4 open water dives. When we got on the ship they informed us that corporate never emailed them or checked with them and we would only be able to do two dives in Cozumel and no dives in costa maya. the manager onboard said that if we had emailed them they would have set up the other two for us. The onboard sea trek staff were great. We loved the two dives we got to do. We are still dissapointed we didnt get to finish completely but we will do 2 more dives at home in may. The cruise was awesome! You will have a great time on oasis.